Abstract
Objective: To estimate and compare the direct and indirect medical expenses in patients with connective tissue diseases (CTD). Method: Our study included 727 patients with CTD; rheumatoid arthritis: RA(n＝360), systemic lupus erythematosus: SLE(n＝112), systemic scleroderma: SSc(n＝60), Sjogren syndrome: SjS(n＝36), polymyositis/dermatomyositis: PM/DM(n＝28), polymyalgia rheumatica: PMR(n＝27), mixed connective tissue disease: MCTD(n＝22), vasculitis syndrome(n＝22), Behçet disease(n＝16), and other connective tissue disease(n＝44) who visited our clinic as out patients in November and December 2009. The blinded questionnaires were collected from all patients. Direct medical expenses were calculated from total expenses for hospital and pharmacy. Result: Mean direct medical expense in patients with CTD was 15,900 JPY/month. Mean direct medical expense was the highest in RA patients with a statistically significant difference (21,100 JPY/month) among all the patients. It is due to most patients except those with RA received public medical subsidies. It might be explained by the fact that 58.3% of the patients with CTD except RA received some kind of public medical subsidy for intractable diseases, while only 5.0% of RA patients received them. Conclusion: Sufficient medical support is necessary for RA patients.
